Swing Chords

My friend Queenie calls these simple chord forms "swing chords", and after thinking about it for a moment, I decided that was a pretty good name for them. The first time I remember hearing this type of rhythm guitar playing was on Django Reinhardt records. Django's band used several guitarist to churn out those driving four-to-the-bar rhythms. Later, I discoverd Freddie Green groovin' hard in Count Basie's big band, using some of the same types of chords. One of the great things about this type of chord form, is it's harmonic simplicity. When you're playing with other chordal instruments, or in a big band, these voicings are good for staying out of trouble. Another wonderful feature is that "swing chords" are really easy to play.

Let's Get Started

The first thing to know about this type of chord is that the 3rd and the 7th are the most important chord tones. In a C major 7th chord (C,E,G,B) the 3rd would be E, and the 7th would be B. I'm not going to dictate the exact fingerings to use because you should find what works best for you. Whatever fingerings you choose, make sure that the strings not being used are muted when you strum the chords.

Example 1

The first chord form has the Root note on the sixth (E) string, the 7th of the chord is located on the fourth (D) string, and the 3rd is on the third (G) string. Just like your basic bar chords, these are movable chord fingerings. In other words, if you move the Gmi7 chord up two frets it is Ami7. Using just the fingerings shown here, play the following chord progression.

Swing 1



swing1.wav 132k